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Topic: Winco Foods ? (Read 3556 times)

I am driving across state with time to stop at Winn Co. I already asked them to order a bag of sea salt to have on hand for me, but any other recommended prep or camping supplies ? Bulk foods of theirs you recommend ? I will have time to roam around, but if I want a large amount of something I will need to preorder, and it is such a large store my eyes may glaze over, so good to have a list of what to look out for

It is only in the western states, and I spelled it wrong, Winco Foods. It is like a discount grocery store with alot of bulk and some organics, etc....No membership required, and you do not need to buy alot at once, besides packaged foods they have the most bulk bins I have ever seen, so you can buy just a bit of something. Eclectic mix, if I recall, bulk bins have junky snacks and candy and also very healthy, cheap things like oats, flour, herbs, etc... So far, I have gone online and pre-ordered a 50 lb bag of both salt and sugar to be there for me next wednesday. They have inexpensive canned goods, as I recall. But, It has been a while since I have been in one, too far away from me. They are built not too far off from the major interstate in CA, hwy 5. They do not even try to expand to outlying areas.

My canned food supply was getting quite low so I did a Winco run the other day. I really do love that store (minus the meat section, which sometimes feels a bit sketchy to me)I was able to load up a cart full, mostly of canned supplies, and come out the door at $200. No way could I have done that at the local grocery store. I do love the pricing there. I realize you already went, but next time watch -- often times the bigger item is cheaper than the smaller because they got a good deal on it. I've gotten the family size cereal cheaper than the small, and the humungous fabric softener for less than the tiny bottle. it pays to check those things out when you go there. I wouldn't really even classify it as a discount grocery store.. it's employee owned, so they do what they can to keep prices down. No baggers, the shelves aren't "pretty", they cut off the front of the big cardboard box, and just throw it on the shelf to grab out of. Other than that, I'd say it's the same as Safeway, etc for most things. One word of advice.. Go EARLY, or LATE. Otherwise the lines are atrocious.

Thanks for the advice. I havent gone yet, I am travelling that way in a few days. But, even if I had, these threads are read by lots of people, what are examples of realy good deals you got there ? ( Types of canned good prices, humungous cereal price ) ? Thanks

Since I was doing a big stock up, I got their store brands of things like vegetables, fruit, and beans. They are typically about 50-59 cents? And the quality isn't bad. They also do a big stock up sale every year where they bring in items in a large quantity (think more Costco sized). Big bags of oatmeal, etc. That varies store to store I believe, but I'm sure if you emailed them, they could tell you when they are having it. The cereal I buy (usually raisin bran crunch- my fave!) runs about 50 cents cheaper there than at other stores, but the time I mentioned before, I got that giant family size box, for even cheaper than the regular size, at 50 cents cheaper. It's hard to quote prices there, because it does vary often depending on the deals they get as well.

Watch when you go and check out the bulk foods. They have a lot of name brand items in there, and if you take the time to look between that section and where it is on the shelf, you can look at the weight per ounce and it is often times cheaper to get it in the bulk section. (Cereals, candies, etc)

They also have "survival foods" back there if you're interested in #10 cans of dehydrated items. That is where I buy oxygen absorbers.

Those are all around my area. They are definitely of the discount variety, but the redeeming features are the bulk items. The ones near me even sell food grade buckets, gamma lids, mylar and O2 absorbers.

In general, any mass produced pantry items like pasta, peanut butter, etc. are cheaper than many supermarkets.

I stopped by our local winco the other day. It's a bit out of the way so I tend to go every 6 months or so.

I wasn't that impressed this time. They have 2 tier pricing on several items I normally stock up on. 10 items at x price then a different price after that. As well as a few items that did not ring up at the same price as the signage. So I don't think I'm going back. I used to love Winco too.

I think they’re relatively new to SoCal and kind of out of the way for me, but it was the only place I could find the Adam’s crunchy old fashioned peanut butter (the kind you have to stir) I grew up with.

Ok, went to the Winco in Vacaville today. Most cans are stuff for rotating in medium term pantry, go bags, and the rest is for feeding returned college student this summer and basic pantry staples.

- Winco brand canned beans are .48 a can. They had pinto, black, kidney, garbanzos at least at this price, I forgot to look at the navies.... ( S and W are more, maybe .69 ? I forget already ) - Winco brand canned sliced peaches, packed in juice, so lower sugar .99/can - Winco brand canned apricots, canned in juice, 1.16/can - Winco canned corn, .50/can ( green beans, etc... also low priced, but I did not take notes) - B and M canned brown bread, they only had the one with raisons, at least here today that is. $2.45/each can - Winco evaporated whole milk .94/can - Winco little cans of green chilis where .60/each. We use these when we make green chili/cheese tamales. -

Bulk - Stash tea bags are individually sealed and in the bulk section, so you can get whatever variety you want with no box, .10/each - Raspberry Granola, I was unsure about it, so just got a little, and I just ate some with yogurt, it was very good, 2.33/lb. I got a quart of the Winco brand plain whole milk yogurt ( these 2 will mostly be used just for breakfast tomorrow) to go with it, was a good flavored, plain yogurt with live cultures, $1.58/quart. this worked so well, if I have time, which I wont, I would run back in tomorrow to get enough of this for college student for the month. - Earlier, I had some of the salted, mixed nuts I bought, also very good, even had a few hazelnuts in the mix. $4.27/lb - Gardetto pub mix, $3/lb - Sea Salt, .31/lb. They didnt get my 50 lb bag in, so I weighed out 2 10lb plastic bags full from bulk bins.

Many types of bulk cereal, large pre-bagged cereal ( 2 lb bags), and then regular sized boxes of cereal are there. Hot cereals too, rolled oats, steel cut oats, 5 grain, etc.... If you go for either hot or cold cereal to feed the family, this would be a low cost place to do it, as there are many alternative brands. I just bought a box of Post shredded wheat, the large squares ( like weatabix) for $2.88, for the rare occasion I want cereal. If I still had others eating cereal, I liked the looks of the large bags, or bulk, of the oat O's ( cherrio's, some off brands look different, these looked like they would pass kid inspection), corn flakes, bran flakes, raison bran and granolas, many varieties of granola. They have plenty of too sugary cereals, I did not make note of these, but they are there.

Many types of bulk, every type of grain imaginable, from multi colored quinoa, to rice pasta, to all the beans, spices,etc.....

Yes, they had 5 gallon buckets, lids, mylar liners, O2 absorbers and lid wrench. So, you could do your LTS from stuff from here. But, if you were to do so, I would recommend calling first to have all teh full bulk bags and make sure all the buckets you needed were on hand, they can preorder for you.

I picked up 2 10lb bags of unbleached flour, basic stuff for when I dont want to use the whole wheat I grind at home, or to mix. $3.24/bag, so .32/lb. SO, pantry bucket.

I picked up a 50 lb bag of American grown Sugar for the pantry bucket. $23. I should not have bothered with the pre-order, as they had house brand 25lb bags of sugar on the shelf at the same price, or close enough.

A small glass maple syrup was $5.48, Coombs brand. I dont do much sugar, but young adults this summer may need their pancakes. House brand box of honey grahm crackers were $1.48 ( they are known to have a summer bonfire once or twice)

Wow, nice haul! It's a little out of my way, so I don't go often, but for stocking up like you did it makes the drive worth it.

Forgot to mention to also check out spices in the bulk section. So much cheaper!At Christmas I needed a few cinnamon sticks for something I was doing. I didn't want to pay $5 for a jar of them. They were $10ish in the bulk section per pound. My 4-5 sticks didn't even register on their scale in the back. I can't even imagine what a pound of them would look like. I probably only paid about 10 cents. It's great for times when you need something, but know you most likely won't need that spice again for quite some time.

Wow, nice haul! It's a little out of my way, so I don't go often, but for stocking up like you did it makes the drive worth it.

Forgot to mention to also check out spices in the bulk section. So much cheaper!At Christmas I needed a few cinnamon sticks for something I was doing. I didn't want to pay $5 for a jar of them. They were $10ish in the bulk section per pound. My 4-5 sticks didn't even register on their scale in the back. I can't even imagine what a pound of them would look like. I probably only paid about 10 cents. It's great for times when you need something, but know you most likely won't need that spice again for quite some time.

I would never drive out here just to shop at Winco, it is too far away for me ( 2.5 to 3 hours, if no traffic), but I am out of town right now, and I literally drive right by it to get to this part of CA, you can see it from the freeway, so I budgeted in leaving an extra hour early yesterday. It is unlikely I can let college student run back in today to get more yogurt/granola, but ya never know.

If it were a little out of my way, like you are to one, I would not drop by every week, but would be a good, no membership required place to stock up on pantry basics, or Long term Storage staples, now and again. I like to keep a deep pantry so I dont need to run to the store all the time.

The only reason I had every heard of Winco was that there is one in Portland, and one of my young people lived there for a bit, after the 2008/9 downturn. Paying rent and eating off of sometimes as low as 10 hours a week of paid work, Winco supplied inexpensive, healthy basic foods to that household of Portland young people.